gepubliceerd op

Feb 11, 2019

by Coindesk | gepubliceerd op

Coinage

Silicon Valley fintech startup Ripple goes out of its way to say it didn't create the cryptocurrency XRP. But that doesn't mean the company doesn't rely on its vast reserves of the token when courting prospective hires.

One engineer who asked to remain anonymous showed CoinDesk a recruiting email from late 2018 that promised an XRP package from Ripple of worth up to $3 million, in addition to a generous salary offer.

According to the company's LinkedIn, Ripple is looking to hire more than a dozen engineers and technical experts, including a new head of engineering for its xCurrent project, which aims to rival the legacy messaging network SWIFT at the center of the current global payments infrastructure.

Salaries may vary according to seniority, but based on conversations with two prospective recruits, XRP bonuses for engineers generally range in value from $1 million to $6 million, according to the company's own evaluation.

One former Ripple employee, who asked to stay anonymous for fear of legal retribution, told CoinDesk he never heard of such XRP bonus packages before 2017.

In September 2018, one prospective engineering recruit, who asked to remain anonymous because he works at a company that might someday collaborate with Ripple, told CoinDesk that he also received an email from a recruiter working on Ripple's behalf that stood out because it offered lucrative XRP packages, supposedly worth $3 million to $6 million.

Speaking to the unusual bonus offering that caught his eye, the anonymous engineer said Ripple is "a very unpopular entity in the crypto sphere among technologists," so he believes the company is "Forced to go above and beyond to attract engineers" during the bear market.

A Ripple representative told CoinDesk the company currently employs roughly 90 engineers and technology experts, with plans to hire "Aggressively" in order to expand its software as a service offering plus support RippleNet mobile wallets and payout processes.

Former Ripple community liaison Jon Holmquist told CoinDesk that developer salaries and compensation are ballooning across Silicon Valley.

In terms of what Ripple is looking for, the company representative said they are recruiting software experts with Java or C++ language expertise and an ample dose of teachability.